


Broken Bones Always Heal

by steptladders



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-09
Updated: 2016-12-09
Packaged: 2018-09-07 10:43:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8797744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steptladders/pseuds/steptladders
Summary: Some things were easier left unsaid, tucked away to be forgotten about. Breaking a habit is never easy.





	

"It was here a few minutes ago, hurry up!" The girl yelled over her shoulder, sprinting a fast as her small legs could carry her. Guzma could barely keep up with her. Perhaps it was his knees succumbing to his reckless squatting, or it was the rocky hills giving the petite girl more maneuverability due to her low center of gravity. Regardless, he was not having a good time.

 "Why did you need my help to catch one pokemon?" He asked between panting, becoming somewhat annoyed at the long hike from the seaside town. She stopped quickly and put her finger to her lips, pointing her other hand towards a patch of grass atop a rocky slope. Guzma could see a glistening blur rustling noisily through the grass. After focusing his eyes, he could see the shape of a Pinsir, but something about it was off. Every pinsir he had seen in the region was brown, but this one was a pale shade of blue. "Is that one of those shiny Pokemon?" He quietly whispered into the girl’s ear. She nodded and pulled a handful of quick balls from her bag, offering them to the man.

 "I'm gonna try and catch it, and if it runs this way, you nail him with one of these!" She smiled deviously, pulling out another quick ball from her bag. Guzma sighed, her plan had a lot of holes in it, but he was willing to help for such a rare find. The girl sneaked around the grass, careful to make as little sound as possible. She positioned herself as close to the pinsir as possible before jumping out and throwing a pokeball. The pinsir had no time to escape, quickly being beamed into the ball. Guzma held his breath as the ball wiggled for what felt like an eternity. Finally the ball ceased its movements and the Pokemon had been successfully captured. The two cheered with glee as the girl ran to the ball to take her prize. She tossed the ball arrogantly in her hand.

 "Piece of cake! It was probably intimidated because we were-Ah!" The ball was tossed up in the air too far and the girl moved to catch it. Her foot slipped off the cliff and began falling down the side of the cliff. Guzma could only watch, as if her fall had been playing in slow motion. The sight was almost graceful, if not for the girl hitting the hard clay with a worrying noise. Guzma sprinted to her side, kneeling down over her.

 "Are you okay?" He asked without thinking. Of course she wasn't okay, the look on her face alone was the only confirmation he needed. She began sniffling, fat tears falling down her cheeks. He laid her small body out straight, leaning against a tree. "Where does it hurt?" He tried to hide the panic in his voice.

 "My leg..." She pointed to her right leg, which was far more beaten up than the left. A wide scrape crossed her knee, peppered with dirt, and a large bruise was already beginning to form. Guzma grabbed the girl’s bag and fished through it for a bottle of fresh water, opening it and pouring it on the cut. The girl made small noises of pain that absolutely hurt him, but the cut had to be washed. "Where's the pokeball?" She asked, wiping her nose with the back of her hand.

 ”We’ll worry about that after you're taken care of. " he said, twisting the cap back on the bottle and setting it aside. He admittingly had no experience in first aid; he was only copying what he could remember vaguely how the people on TV had done it. He spotted a case of bandages in the bag and crossed two over the cut. "Tell me if anything hurts." He started moving and squeezing sections of the leg, beginning at the ankle. He had barely grazed his fingers over her shin and the girl yelled out loudly. He quickly pulled his hands away and examined the area.

 "Is it broken?" She could read the worry on his face.

 "It might be." The comment caused the girl to begin crying again. "Don't worry, we'll fix it up!" He smiled reassuringly. He still had no idea what he was doing, but he assumed the leg needed a splint. Guzma grabbed the nearest fallen branch and broke it down to size, removing his jacket to tie it close against the limb. He admired his handiwork, it was definitely not worthy of a wilderness surviving show, but it did the job.

 "The pokeball is over there." The girl weakly pointed to the quick ball lying next to a patch of grass. Guzma fetched it and placed it in her hands, cupping his own hands around them.

“Hold on tight to this now, don't go dropping it again. " he smiled warmly at her. He quickly put on a tough face and walked towards the rocky cliff. "Hey buddy, you mess with her, you messin' with me. You wanna fight?" He gave a firm kick to the rock, inciting quiet giggles from the girl. "I'm gonna mess you up boy, you don't mess with Guzma. Destruction in human form, yadda yadda yadda." He gave a firm punch to the rock, which hurt a lot, but he wasn't going to let it show. He looked back at the girl laughing through her tears, smiling warmly at him. Guzma slung her bag over his back before picking up the girl bridal style. Unfortunately, they were far from any routes and he was unfamiliar with Poni Island. He picked the direction he thought would lead back to civilization and carefully treated through the rocky terrain.  

 "It still really hurts." The girl whined meekly, her tiny hands grasped about the ball.

 "Nah, just think about what color you want your cast to be." He was careful not to jostle her too much as he walked, even though he was having trouble with it himself. "When I was a kid, I broke my arm. It was all bent weird and I think Kukkui threw up just looking at it. But everyone got to sign my cast and I was the coolest kid on Melemele." She giggled a bit, eyes still red from crying.

 "Now I know you're just saying that to make me feel better, you've never been cool." She teased, making him crack a smile.

 ”There’s that bratty humor I know you for. " Her level of sarcasm and sass was almost on par with his, maybe more so on occasion. She looked like a doll being carried in his arms. Her pale face stood out among the strands of tangled black hair that framed it. Even after a fall, she still looked as if everything about her was meticulously crafted to perfection. He shook his head, his thoughts had gotten away from himself. What needed to be done now was finding their way back to the town. The girl's fingers ran over the smooth surface of the pokeball, circling around the center indentation.

 ”I’m sorry I'm a klutz.” Her voice trailed off into a mumble. Guzma shrugged it off.

 "Guess I just gotta make sure to protect you from becoming a victim of gravity” He said arrogantly, despite being hesitant at being so forward. Silence passed between the two, the only sound being the kicking of loose dirt as he walked. He constructed his thoughts into a list of what to do. The first thing was to go back to the town, of course. Secondly, he had to find a doctor to look at her leg and do any work on it if needed. Thirdly, he'd bring her home and find out some way to explain the situation to her mother without her trying to kill him.

 "Thank you for everything." She said meekly, looking up at him.

 "I'm sure any old Musdale could carry you back to town, it's no big deal."

 ”No, I mean everything. " she interjected, "You cheer me up when I'm down and you're so sweet to me, even after all the craziness that went down months ago..." He didn't know how to respond, his mind becoming cloudy.

 ”Nah, don't mention it.“ was all he could manage to say. Long silence stretched between the two for what felt like ages before she spoke up again.

 "I love you."

 He felt as if time stopped around them, or perhaps he had just stopped moving.  The world seemed to fade out of existence, only being bound to reality by the beatings of his heart against his chest. It hurt. It was supposed to feel good or reassuring or anything, but the words just fell on him, reverberating through his body. It was supposed to make him feel like he was wanted, but he felt like more of an outsider than ever before. He was afraid. Afraid of becoming too attached to something doomed to fail. Afraid to end up like his parents. Love to them was an obligation, a facade put together every morning and falling apart every night.

 "You don't have to say it back if you don't want to..."

 Everything always felt out of his control. It wasn't his fault that he got a bad start on life, but it seemed to define him as a person. His need for approval always drove him further, but he would run when things went too far. He was always running away. Running away from his training, running away from home, running away after the failures of Team Skull, nothing was ever too low for him. Maybe it was some sort of way to punish himself, or maybe he was just a broken mess of a person controlled by fear. And here he was, holding this girl who just told him that she loved him, and he didn’t have the guts to say it back.

“I’m sorry if I made things awkward…”

No. He couldn’t keep running away. He had to actually put effort into something and accept the possibility of failure. He’d try to make this work, even to the very end. He wasn’t going to be like his parents. He would be better than they ever were.

“No, it’s not that, it’s…” Guzma spoke softly before mentally slapping himself into a more assertive tone. “It’s not easy, but…Dammit, I love you!” he yelled out, echoing through the mountain. The girl blinked in silence for moments before smiling warmly and nuzzling her head against his chest.

“That makes me really happy to hear.” She said softly into his ear, sending electric currents through his spine. He had only just realized that the silhouettes of the town lay in the distance ahead of them, and resumed his confident strides down the rocky hillside. “You know, I wanted to catch that pinsir for you. You’re the bug guy of Melemele after all.” She ran her fingers along the smooth surface of the pokeball again. Guzma gave a smirk.

“I should have figured as much. That dude’s gonna have to work for his rent for the suffering he put you through today.”

 

Eventually the two had found their way back to the town, and the girl had gotten medical attention. She did break her leg and the doctor was unimpressed with Guzma’s attempt at first aide, saying it was the thought that counts or something. Her mother was just as angry as he predicted, chewing him out with her words, but keeping the same kind and motherly expression she always wore. His punishment was to stay at the house during the daytime, answering to a stupid bell the girl’s mom bought for her to use any time the girl needed anything. He had only just begun to relax before the bell’s ringing brought him back off the couch and into the girl’s bedroom. She sat with the same smug face she had on the last few times she rung the bell with her leg propped up on pillows and encased in a bright pink cast.

“Yes?” He asked with annoyed urgency.

“I can’t reach my water.” She waved her arm wildly in the air directly next to the cup, refusing to move her torso just slightly to grab it. He groaned and walked over with faked annoyance, moving the cup an inch over into her hand. He began to walk away before she spoke up. “Hey!” He turned around to look back at her smiling genuinely this time. “I love you.” Guzma smirked and let himself out the door.

“Psh. Shut up.”


End file.
